Brussels is to defy Britain’s demand for parallel talks on Brexit and the future trading arrangements by insisting the exit bill, citizens’ rights and Ireland are agreed to first.
A summit of the remaining EU leaders will later agree a final version of the draft negotiating guidelines which demand significant progress on initial objectives before trade talks can even begin.
Arriving at the talks in Brussels today, EU Council President Donald Tusk was unrepentant in his demand for a ‘phased’ approach to the two year talks.
Mr Tusk revealed today he has a ‘list’ of rights currently held by EU citizens that must be protected in Britain after Brexit, Daily Mail reports.
Mr Tusk’s draft last month triggered an extraordinary row over Gibraltar when the document handed Spain an effective veto over the whole deal.
The latest draft provoked claims Brussels was meddling in the future of Northern Ireland after it made clear the province would be welcomed back to the EU if it ever joined a united Ireland.
EU leaders will vote on whether to accept the guidelines later today before a round of press conferences at around 3pm.
The build up to today’s summit was dominated by a warning from German chancellor Angela Merkel that some in Britain have a ‘delusion’ that Britain’s arrangements outside Europe would be better than inside.
This intervention prompted Prime Minister Theresa May to complain the EU was ganging up on Britain.
As he arrived in Brussels today, Mr Tusk said: ‘We all want a close and strong future relationship with the UK – there is absolutely no question about that.
‘But before discussing our future we have to sort out our past, and we will handle it with genuine care, but fairly.
‘This I think is the only possible way to move forward.
‘We also need solid guarantees for all citizens and their families who will be affected by Brexit on both sides.
‘This must be the number one priority for the EU and the UK.
‘And the Commission has already prepared a precise and detailed list of citizens’ rights we want to protect.’
Mr Tusk has also signalled a desire to resolve the thorny problem of the Irish border – and how to avoid customs and immigrant checkpoints on the politically sensitive frontier – before moving negotiations to the second stage.
Aside from dealing with the present day border, the European Council may also address its approach if the day came when the people of Northern Ireland voted to end partition and join a united Ireland.
EU leaders are ultimately expected to agree that, in such circumstances, Northern Ireland would automatically assume the EU membership already held by the Republic of Ireland, rather than having to reapply.
One of the more controversial elements of Mr Tusk’s draft guidelines in March was a suggested veto for Spain on any future UK/EU agreements that involved Gibraltar.
Another recent issue of contention that could feature on Saturday is whether a free trade deal would include the financial services industry and, if it did, whether City of London institutions would still be bound by Brussels oversight.
Former Northern Ireland first minister Lord Trimble said there was no need to include a passage on the possibility of a united Ireland, saying it would only ‘stir up nationalist feeling’.
The former Ulster Unionist leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘From the point of view of the Irish there is no need to introduce this, it’s actually playing games with nationalist feelings and I wonder why the Irish government is doing this and why Europe is going along with it.’
He went on: ‘Stirring up nationalist feeling is not necessarily a wise thing to do, but what I would like to do is to focus on the real issue, and the real issue in terms of the border is tariffs.’
